By:  Dutton                                           H.B. No. 1413
       73R4732 CAE-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to assistance to disadvantaged businesses in professional
    1-3  services contracts.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 3, Professional Services Procurement Act
    1-6  (Article 664-4, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
    1-7  as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 3.  (a)  No state agency, political subdivision, county,
    1-9  municipality, district, authority, or publicly-owned utility of the
   1-10  State of Texas shall make any contract for, or engage the
   1-11  professional services of, any licensed physician, optometrist,
   1-12  surgeon, architect, certified public accountant, land surveyor, or
   1-13  registered engineer, or any group or association thereof, selected
   1-14  on the basis of competitive bids submitted for such contract or for
   1-15  such services to be performed, but shall select and award such
   1-16  contracts and engage such services on the basis of demonstrated
   1-17  competence and qualifications for the type of professional services
   1-18  to be performed and at fair and reasonable prices, as long as
   1-19  professional fees are consistent with and not higher than the
   1-20  published recommended practices and fees of the various applicable
   1-21  professional associations and do not exceed the maximum provided by
   1-22  any state law.
   1-23        (b)  A state agency, political subdivision, county,
   1-24  municipality, district, authority, or publicly-owned utility of the
    2-1  State of Texas shall make a good faith effort to assist
    2-2  disadvantaged businesses to receive at least 10 percent of the
    2-3  total value of all contract awards for professional services that
    2-4  the entity expects to make during its fiscal year.  The state
    2-5  agency, political subdivision, county, municipality, district,
    2-6  authority, or publicly-owned utility shall estimate the expected
    2-7  total value of its contract awards under this Act not later than
    2-8  the 60th day of the entity's fiscal year and may revise the
    2-9  estimate as new information requires.
   2-10        (c)  In this section, "disadvantaged business" has the
   2-11  meaning assigned that term in Section 1.02, State Purchasing and
   2-12  General Services Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
   2-13  and its subsequent amendments.
   2-14        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-15        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.